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Distribution
The Americas
Breeding Range
From w. Alaska (Chagvan Bay at 58°45’N) around coast north to Barrow and east through nw. Mackenzie and Banks, s. Melville, Bathurst, Devon (75°40’N), Bylot, and w. and s. Baffin islands south to the Yukon River, n.-central Mackenzie (Cockburn Point), s. Victoria and Jenny Lind islands, n. Keewatin (Adelaide and Melville peninsulas), and Southampton and Coats islands.
Winter Range
From s. British Columbia (rarely north to s. Alaska; 58°N) and Massachusetts (rarely north to Newfoundland; 47°N) south along coasts of the U.S. and Middle America, Bermuda, and throughout the West Indies (less frequent in Lesser Antilles). Small populations in Central Valley and Salton Sea of California (Small 1994), and rare in interior Mexico at least through Jan (Howell and Webb 1995). Also along both coasts of South America (also Galapagos I. and other offshore islands), common north of equator and in much fewer numbers to central Chile and central Argentina (Morrison and Ross 1989). Casual throughout Hawaiian Islands.
Outside The Americas
From Cramp and Simmons 1983 . Breeding range in eastern hemisphere from extreme ne. European Russia eastward across n. Siberia (including Kolguyev I., s. Novaya Zemlya, the New Siberian I., and Wrangel I.) to the Gulf of Anadyr and Chukotka Peninsula. Wintering range from British Isles, s. Europe, n. India, Southeast Asia, se. China, s. Japan, and Solomon I. south to s. Africa, islands of Indian Ocean, Malay Peninsula, Australia, and New Zealand. Migration primarily coastal, but scattered individuals in interior of most countries. As in New World, more common in interior of northern (Eurasia) than southern (Africa, Australia) hemisphere, but interior migration routes poorly documented. More common in interior in autumn, presumably mostly juveniles. Larger numbers reported in interior of western than eastern Russia, probably from Siberian-African migration system. Casual in Greenland, Iceland, Faeroe I., Azores, Madeira, and Spitsbergen.
Fossil History
Reported from Pleistocene deposits in Ireland, England, Czechoslovakia, Azerbaijan, and California (Brodkorb 1967).
Paulson, Dennis R. 1995. Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/186
